Info, links and musings from a (non-teacher) education supporter… because education is an entitlement.
South Houston, Kruse elementary schools receive grant
– reported by the Pasadena Citizen
Kruse and South Houston elementary schools will be expanding their school library collections with the help of a $6,000 grant from The Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries.[snip]
Congratulation, Kruse & South Houston.
KIPP to graduate first senior class
– reported by the Houston Business Journal
KIPP Houston High School will graduate its first senior class on May 31.
The high school, the first created in the Knowledge Is Power Program network, opened in 2004 as a public charter school. It was
started with $680,000 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation –
part of an $8 million grant to the KIPP Foundation in 2005 to start
KIPP high schools across the country.[snip]
Award will fund teacher training, pique student interest in history
– Houston Chronicle2
Pasadena students could soon receive a better education in history after the school district was awarded the Teaching American History Grant.The Pasadena school district is the newest recipient of the grant aimed at simultaneously improving students’ history knowledge and teachers’ classroom skills.
The $949,434 grant will fund training with expert historians in cutting-edge techniques to develop teacher knowledge and appreciation for American history, encourage dynamic instruction and make history an interesting subject.
The curriculum is geared toward developing the classroom strategy of teachers and to help them bring American history alive for students.
Teachers in this program gain a deeper understanding of history.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.
Students’ phones seized over girls’ nude photos
‘It’s child pornography,’ superintendent says
– Houston Chronicle2
Police in the Santa Fe school district have confiscated dozens of
phones as they search for nude images of two junior high school girls
that were forwarded to numerous students, the district superintendent
said Tuesday.“Those students forwarded the images and the circle opened up and got wider and wider,” Superintendent Jon Whittemore said.
The two Santa Fe Junior High School students took nude photos of
themselves and sent them to their boyfriends, Whittemore said. The
boyfriends forwarded the photos to others, who in turn forwarded them
again, he said.
“It’s child pornography, is what it is,” Whittemore said.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.
HISD names its Teachers of the Year
– KHOU CBS Channel 111
[snip]The Houston
Independent School District crowned one elementary and one secondary
school teacher as their Teachers of the Year: Melaine Leavens of
Wainwright Elementary and David Brown of Challenge Early College.[snip]
Footnotes
1 = may require free registration.
Teach for America to add 230 teachers in Houston
– Houston Business Journal
[snip]More than 230 new teachers will be in place, up 15 percent from last year.
The new teachers will form an active Houston corps of more than 400
first- and second-year teachers who will reach 32,000 students during
the 2008-09 year.This year’s growth is made possible in part by a $1 million commitment from Laura and John Arnold in support of Teach For America’s presence in the Houston area.
First ‘Kid Lit Fest’ set March 8
Humble ISD event focuses on making reading fun
– Houston Chronicle2
The Humble school district will host the first Kid Lit Fest March 8, featuring nine children’s literature authors, activities, book signings and giveaways.The event will be from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Atascocita High School, 13300 Will Clayton Parkway.
Admission is free.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.
Pearland advances to national academic decathlon
Students win at state academic decathlon, move on to nationals
– Houston Chronicle2
After outperforming students from nearly 80 other Texas schools, Pearland High School earned the right Sunday to represent Texas at next month’s national academic decathlon meet.[snip]
The Academic Decathlon contest is considered a premier scholastic competition among high school students, who are judged individually and as teams. The event culminates with a fast-paced intellectual relay called the Super Quiz. This year’s topic is the Civil War.
Each team comprises students from varying academic backgrounds, including three ‘C’ students, three ‘B’ students and three ‘A’ students.
The Pearland team scored 50,595 points out of a possible 60,000 during this weekend’s competition at Plano West Senior High School near Dallas, which hosted 40 teams from Texas’ large high schools. The top 25 teams from medium schools and 15 teams from small schools competed in San Antonio.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.
TSU’s president calls for entrance standard
All applicants now accepted but a large majority fail to graduate
– Houston Chronicle2
Texas Southern University’s new president wants to end the school’s long-standing practice of accepting all applicants, no matter their academic background, saying the policy contributes to its alarmingly low graduation rate.President John Rudley said the change is necessary to remake the state’s largest historically black university, which has been on the ropes recently because of management missteps, sliding enrollment and bad press.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks
Stanford waives tuition if income under $100,000
– Reuters
Amid calls by some U.S. lawmakers for wealthy universities to lower tuition costs, officials at Stanford University said on Wednesday they would no longer charge tuition to students from families earning less than $100,000 a year.For students whose families earn less than $60,000 a year, Stanford University will not charge for either tuition or room and board, officials at the prestigious university near San Francisco said.
[snip]